Thursday, January 01, 2009

TED Talks: Ideas Worth Spreading

TED is a non-profit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out as an annual conference on Technology, Entertainment and Design, but it has since evolved into an extensive set of events and activities crafted to inspire and spread great ideas for changing the world. The annual TED conference in Long Beach, CA is the main event -- an invite-only meeting with influential and impactful speakers like Al Gore, Stephen Hawking, Sergey Brin, JJ Abrams, Bill Clinton, Tim Berners-Lee, James Cameron, Murray Gellman and Bill Gates. To spread the best ideas, TED freely distributes videos of the TED Talks (never exceeding 18 minutes).

For those who wish to sample what happens at TED, or want a road map to the many great TED Talks, I have tried to document the last five years of TED. Over the years, I've invested more detail and ratings into my reviews. By doing so, I hope to contribute to ideas worth spreading.

TED 2011: Rediscovery of Wonder
A detailed index of the entire conference is available here, with all TED Talks rated and posted. The highlights were General Stanley McChrystal, organ researcher Anthony Atala (see photo right), dinosaur hunter Jack Horner, and fourth grade teacher John Hunter.

TED 2010: What the World Needs Now
An overview of TED 2010. Read reviews and ratings of the TED Talks from:

Friday PM: Music and Comedy


An overview of TED'09 and TED University. Read detailed TED Talk reviews and ratings at:

Wednesday: Reboot
Wednesday: Reframe

An overview of TED'08 and the TED Prize. Read about the TED Talks at:

Wednesday: Literally, A Stroke of Luck
Highlights: Dr Jill Taylor-- Brain scientists decvonstructs her own stroke; Stephen Hawking
Thursday Morning: Life Origami
Highlights: Craig Venter and Paul Rothemund on developing CAD tools for synthesizing complex life forms.

Thursday Afternoon: Helpful Tips to Survive a Nuclear Explosion
Highlight: Author Dave Eggers
Friday Morning: Music, Shrooms and Crows
Highlight: Josh Klein on how smart crows really are. Definitely worth watching.
Friday Afternoon: Shining Eyes
Highlight of the Week: Ben Zander leads TED in German choral singing
Saturday: Thank You For Being Here
Highlight: Al Gore with more inconvenient slides.


My first impression of a TED conference.

Resources for those who wish to follow up on my TED University talk.
Posted by David Cowan at 9:54 PM

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